My lord, spare his life!

Bang, bang, bang!

Because his head was being held up, Zhang Yang's ear could be pressed against his chest, allowing him to clearly hear his heartbeat suddenly quickening.

Wow, that almost scared her!

Zhang Yang was naturally not afraid of ghosts.

Her strong reaction was purely because—

When you're down to your last sliver of health and run into a fully healed player with a red name, who wouldn't feel their heart race? She's not one of those players who can resurrect at half health indefinitely and aren't afraid of dying. As an NPC, once she dies, she can only wait for the system to refresh and give her another "Zhang Yang".

Does this new "Zhang Yang" still have self-awareness?

Zhang Yang was not confident.

Having played games for sixteen years, I've never encountered another NPC who has awakened self-awareness like her. This shows that her situation is an extremely rare exception. Once she's dead, she's truly dead!

Therefore, Zhang Yang cherished his life immensely.

Unfortunately, I am currently unable to move around easily.

No one knows better than her how fragile a character is when they're low on health.

In a flash, several plans flashed through Zhang Yang's mind. She narrowed her alluring eyes, which had been the subject of numerous requests for character creation data from players, and secretly calculated the distance between herself and the red-named player, their weaknesses, and how much force would be needed to knock them unconscious!

Before taking action, she carefully weighed the object in her hand.

He clicked his tongue, complaining that his head wasn't heavy enough.

The field of vision also swayed slightly up and down.

But as Zhang Yang's gaze slid from the red-named man's rain-soaked forehead down to his neck, she changed her mind. If she wasn't strong enough to knock him unconscious, she would be at a disadvantage. It would be better to focus on his throat and bite it off; that way, her chances of winning would be much higher.

It's also more reliable!

Boom!

Dark purple lightning once again cleaved the night sky.

The previous flash of lightning allowed Zhang Yang to see the appearance of the person who had come in, and this flash of lightning also allowed the person to see the strange scene inside the room—a headless figure with unnaturally twisted limbs was holding a head covered in dried blood, looking at him expressionlessly.

When he saw the figure clearly, he gasped in shock.

A bone-chilling coldness surged from the soles of his feet all the way to the top of his head.

He instinctively took a step back in fear, but he quickly noticed the unfamiliar look in the head's eyes and calmed himself down.

"what?"

Zhang Yang stared in astonishment as the name above the other person's head turned yellow.

Red indicates hostility, yellow indicates neutrality, and green indicates friendliness.

The name of the newcomer changed from red to yellow, signifying a shift in attitude from hostility to neutrality, and also indicating that time could be wasted. Therefore, Zhang Yang suppressed her urge to throw her head out and called out the name: "Mysterious Rainy Night Passerby A."

The mysterious passerby A stood motionless on the rainy night, possibly because the wind, rain, and thunder outside were too loud to drown out Zhang Yang's voice.

She invited, "Would you like to come inside and take shelter from the rain?"

The other party finally responded.

"You standing outside like that is scary," Zhang Yang emphasized earnestly. "Just now, you frightened me."

Some words seemed to have an effect, for the man's pale face twitched uncontrollably. He accepted Zhang Yang's offer and, covered in rain and sweat, stepped into the dilapidated house, which bore the marks of a murder scene. Zhang Yang's gaze followed the man closely, or rather, it was fixed on his head.

The two were now only seven or eight steps apart.

Zhang Yang sat down cross-legged, seemingly oblivious to her surroundings, her head resting between her crossed legs. She brought the needle and thread to her eyes. She tied a knot between the remaining thread and the new thread, pulled one end to let the new thread pass through the needle's eye, and attempted to sew the head.

Hmm, not very convenient.

Left with no other choice, they turned their attention to the second person.

"Mysterious stranger on a rainy night, could you lend me a hand? I can't see the wound on my neck, so it's inconvenient to stitch it up."

The person's voice was hoarse: "Are you... calling me?"

"Yes, that's right."

Mysterious passerby A on a rainy night: "..."

His breathing became erratic for a moment. He glanced at Zhang Yang's head, then at the needle and thread in her right hand. His already pale face was almost transparent. At that moment, Zhang Yang's eyes darted around, her gaze fixed on the top of his head with a deep intensity, as if she were seeing something beyond her comprehension.

A mysterious passerby on a rainy night (fearful)

A mysterious passerby on a rainy night (hesitating)

A mysterious passerby on a rainy night (with murderous intent)

The name at the beginning remained the same, but a strange parenthesis appeared at the end.

As the other person's name rapidly switched between yellow and red, the text within the parentheses also changed several times.

Ultimately, his name was fixed in the yellow neutral state.

The words inside the parentheses also disappeared quietly.

Zhang Yang blinked, puzzled.

What is this?

She had never encountered this situation with players or other NPCs before. Although players could change their names and NPCs could disguise themselves to conceal their true identities, they would never suddenly appear with parentheses like this person in front of her and then disappear shortly afterward.

They certainly won't switch between red and yellow names as frequently as he does.

Or is it that you simply don't know it?

Zhang Yang thought about it again and realized that it wasn't impossible.

According to the "game settings" mentioned by players, the home base that players apply for is actually a wasteland that has recently been reclaimed by the official government, so it is normal for there to be red-named NPCs in this place.

It's reasonable for players to receive a homestead quest, enter the homestead side map, clear out these red-named monsters, and then build their homestead in the game, right? So, it's also reasonable for the developers to give these red-named monsters some strange and unusual features?

This is also a form of playability.

Zhang Yang accepted the speculation in a second.

"You help me sew it up."

This was neither a request nor an order, but rather a small privilege she enjoyed as an NPC—as everyone knows, NPCs can order players around and only need to give them a little something in return, such as titles, pets, pendants, or books.

Of course, it could also be money.

However, it is not recommended.

Inflation among players is terrifying.

She spends most of her time disguised as a player, only occasionally switching to an NPC disguise when she needs to gain something for herself, giving herself the vague name of a wandering survivor, and deceiving passing players into running errands for her.

"As a token of my appreciation, I can give you a hamster."

Offering players 1,000 Alliance Coins as a reward will be met with indifference, and they might even curse him for being poor to his face. But if you give them a hamster worth 50 Alliance Coins (three hamsters in total) from the market, they'll generously share it on the world channel, attracting a bunch of eager runners for Zhang Yang. What if there aren't enough hamsters? Zhang Yang simply needs to find an excuse to send players elsewhere to wait for him to restock.

But the person didn't even budge.

Is the hamster not tempting enough?

Zhang Yang then realized that the mysterious passerby in the rainy night was just a low-named monster in the home base, not a player, so naturally he wouldn't accept her quest. Just as she was racking her brains trying to figure out what to do, the person finally moved, getting up and approaching Zhang Yang.

Give me the needle and thread.

Boom!

The dark purple lightning outside grew increasingly violent.

Are you nervous?

At such close range, Zhang Yang could easily make out the details of the mysterious passerby in the rainy night. Seventeen or eighteen years old, his clothes were covered in patches in a disheveled style, his skin was rough, and his teeth were badly worn…

Similarly, he didn't miss the other person's quickened heartbeat and breathing, their hands trembling with nervousness, and their scarlet name.

Passerby A's breath hitched, and his back stiffened.

The needle in his hand also pierced Zhang Yang's neck wound.

Ding-dong-

[Head, hands, torso, and feet detected. Should we synthesize this?]